The present invention relates to the reduction of emissions from Ocean Going Vessels (OGVs), and more particularly to an improved Exhaust Intake Bonnet (EIB) for capturing and processing emissions from OGVs.
A substantial quantity of pollutants are produced by burning fuel in OGVs. The pollutants produced when an engine burns bunker and/or diesel fuel is a complex mixture of thousands of gases and fine particles, commonly known as soot, which contains more than forty toxic air contaminates. These contaminates include arsenic, benzene, and formaldehyde along with other ozone-forming pollutants that are components of smog and acid rain, such as carbon dioxide (CO2), sulphur dioxide (SO2), and nitrogen oxides (NOX). An OGV may create and exhaust as much NOX as 12,500 automobiles or as an oil refinery, and thus is a substantial health risk to port workers and residents of surrounding communities, and may physically damage structures and equipment.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,258,710 for “Maritime Emissions Control System,” assigned to the assignee of the present invention, describes a mobile emissions control system which may be transported to a ship within a harbor, and which mobile emissions control system captures and processes a main exhaust flow from the ship to reduce emissions. The main exhaust flow may be from the ship's engine(s), auxiliary generators, or any other source of exhaust from the ship. The emissions control system of the '710 patent includes a bonnet which is lowered over the ship's stack. Although the bonnet described in the '710 patent is adequate in most cases, in some situation, for example rectangular stacks, the bonnet of the '710 patent may not provide a close fit to sides of the stack.